BUSINESS CLASS:

Fighting flight fright

March 08, 2011|By Josh Noel, Tribune Newspapers

It's a safe guess that low-level flying anxiety is far more common than anyone knows or admits. So I'll admit it: I don't like flying. The process is too laborious, in too small a space with too many people. Less on my mind is the possibility of falling out of the sky, but I suppose such morbidity flashes through my thoughts now and again.

None of these feelings is debilitating enough to keep me from the skies, but there are moments when I want nothing more than to get off an airplane. As a frequent business (and leisure) traveler, I keep cool and do what I must.

Jim Burt knows what I'm talking about.

The 75-year-old Madison, Wis., resident's new product, calmspace, is an ounce glass vial filled with a mixture of oils that, whether by whiff or rolling it on your wrist, are intended to soothe anxious nerves. Calmspace comes in lavender and vanilla scents.

A couple of things led Burt, a health care industry veteran, to come up with the product. First, he was intrigued by what he had read about the effects of scent on Sloan-Kettering hospital patients who became claustrophobic in the tight spaces used in MRIs.

Also, Burt said, his wife has experienced low-level claustrophobia since being caught in a massive crowd in a narrow space while leaving a University of Wisconsin football game. It made him realize the prevalence of the problem.

"It's a hidden disease," Burt said. "We wanted a product that, when confronted, even if it's by surprise, you can use discreetly."

He envisions selling calmspace at airport kiosks, among other locations. For now the product is available only through his website ($14.99 at calm-space.com).

Tom Bunn, a licensed clinical social worker and former pilot, is president of Soar, which presents seminars that address flying anxiety.

"It all comes from the same root: not being able to control the release of stress hormones," Bunn said. The airlines haven't helped, he added: "Sitting in economy has gotten terrible. If a person is more comfortable, they're not as wired."

Shona Vas, director of the Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Program at the University of Chicago, said that flight anxieties have increased since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that "there are many people who fly because they have to fly but fly with intense discomfort."

A lot of those people seek some kind of short-acting sedative, but plenty do not, she explained.

"They live with it for the most part," she said.

Scent therapy could work for those people, she said, though it would not address the underlying issues. That would require therapy, according to Vas.

"The scents sound like a distraction," Vas said. "It could help people to tolerate their discomfort, but maybe the next time you fly, the lavender won't work anymore."

Do you have ideas for Business Class about the latest in business travel? Write to Josh Noel at jbnoel@tribune.com. Include "Business Class" in the subject line.

Flight tips

These are among the tips from pilot Tom Bunn, whose group combats flight anxiety:

We pilots would not be doing this job unless it was safe. And, insurance companies are no fools; they sell pilots insurance at the same rates as nonpilots.

Keep the "visual channel" of your mind fully occupied with something concrete to keep imagination from gaining a foothold.

Music filters out plane noises. Keep the "auditory channel" of your mind occupied.